Former FDIC Chair Sheila Bair was a vocal critic of Congressional action (or inaction) during the financial crisis, and now she has a column and Fortune about how to improve all that.

In a word: Compensation.

Through this vehicle, Bair tackles a question that has been bothering Americans now more than ever during one of the most unpopular Congress' of all time — how do we get politicians to think past their next election to the long term good of the country?

Let's start paying members of Congress and the President half of their compensation in 10-year Treasury debt, which they must hold until maturity. Members of Congress make roughly $180,000, so under this proposal, they would get $90,000 in cash and $90,000 in 10-year Treasuries. (We would add a housing allowance, too, given the high cost of living in Washington.) For the President, it would be $200,000 cash and $200,000 in T-bonds. If the economy does well and if they get our fiscal house in order and institute pro-growth tax and spending policies, those 10-year bonds should hold their value. But if we continue our profligate ways, inflation spikes, and interest rates skyrocket, those bonds may end up being worth as much as the stuff Czar Nicholas issued shortly before the Bolshevik revolution (some of which I bought at a flea market and now use as wallpaper in the bathroom).

She's being funny, but she's hardly joking. Bair goes on to suggest that we make half of those bonds paid only on the condition of hitting certain performance benchmarks. Politicians would have to meet goals on the labor participation rate (she wants it above 66%) and GDP growth (1%-2% is just not cutting it).

Shareholders, she points out, get to advise on executive compensation so why don't American citizens get to take a page from that book, Bair wonders.

It's a good question — even considering the dramatically varying power shareholders have — so we'll be considering it.